Before we get into this week's newsletter we wanted to let you know we've just published an 🚨 emergency podcast 🚨 in response to the King's Speech which revealed that Keir Starmer's Labour government have not put a stop to profiteering from tickets by touts.
We caught up with a spokesperson from Which? who recently wrote an urgent letter to the PM with a letter co-signed by the industry to find out what a "draft bill" means and what happens next to protect music fans...
On 31st March, I went to a show and the only memento of it I have is the hoodie I bought at the end. Coincidentally, I’m wearing it now. I have no photos or videos of it. Neither did anyone else in attendance. Maybe this should be the new normal.
The gig in question was part of a fan event hosted by the post-hardcore band Static Dress (who I’ve written about previously in the newsletter) at a disused cinema. My phone was locked away in a pouch on the steps outside before I went in. This was a building where the big screen was prized over the small one, even after it was no longer being used for film screenings. After all, part of the ritual of watching a film involves turning your phone off just before the opening credits roll. It’s for piracy reasons, of course, but it has experiential benefits. It’s to let the rest of the world melt away so you can be consumed by the story.
I did watch a film that night, funnily enough. The event began with a screening of a short film directed by the band’s vocalist, Olli Appleyard, that led to the announcement of their forthcoming album Injury Episode. (It made me cry.) The band played a set afterwards, and that was where the dynamic changed.
The energy was totally different. People sang louder, danced harder, moshed more. The connection was deeper with no filter between the fans, the band and each other. Nothing was lost by the lack of glowing screens in the room, and in fact, it made the experience feel more potent.
This might be what the future of gig-going looks like, particularly when research by events company Eventbrite revealed that the number of phone-free events increased by 567 per cent across the globe last year. Offline joy is real and everyone wants a piece, sick of the mind-numbing, brain-rotting monotony of social media and all the mental health ill effects, least of all its decline to a platform designed more for advertising and influencing than genuine connection.
The effect on the experience is profound. The absence of a phone in a space like a gig puts you in a paradoxical state of overlapping awareness and unawareness. Without a small screen narrowing your vision to a thin tunnel filled with emojis and numbers, you experience the world through a wider lens. You notice more.
All that exists is what’s in front of you. You’re blissfully unaware of the hive of activity in the online world. The wheels of life turn slower, you’re calmer, and you hold a sense of quiet power knowing the fast-moving current of the internet didn’t wash you away with it. You chose to opt out instead of feeling controlled.
It’s escapist, almost, and that’s how live music should feel. You, submerged in music, locked into a collective experience with people just like you. Right there, in front of you, are the people who soundtrack your life, in the flesh, in multiple dimensions. It’s better than anything on a small screen.
A friend of mine who was at the event said online afterwards that she wanted to see more phone-free gigs. So do I. Chances are, the artists do too. Appleyard himself made this clear during an appearance on The Downbeat Podcast in 2023, where, in a segment where artists build their dream festival, he said his dream event would implement a ban on phones (and, as a straight-edge person, alcohol). Meanwhile, Svalbard vocalist-guitarist Serena Cherry wrote in a column for Metal Hammer last year that being filmed when she’s performing can be flattering but also adds “a different kind of pressure” to what she does that can also make her more self-conscious.
“Suddenly, the audience I am standing in front of isn’t the only audience I’m performing to anymore. The occasion now also belongs to social media and its unforgiving comments section. As a musician, you want to lose yourself in performing, but it’s hard to be carefree when there are cameras recording your every move.”
Incidentally, sometimes seeing a mass of phones in a crowd is genuinely irritating. I’ve observed the most chronically online fanbases tend to be most prone to this, sometimes blocking each other’s views. Done too indiscreetly or for too long at a time, it becomes disrespectful to fellow gig goers and to the artist. It dilutes the experience and for very little benefit – fleeting, online clout, or a blurry memento.
Perhaps not every band can get away with banning phones, not when online videos can potentially help those at the very beginning of their careers. Not every band can take the measures of say, Ghost, who mandated their fans to lock their phones away in Yondr pouches on their arena tour last year. (Incidentally, a phone ban also means that no aspect of a gig’s production can be seen in advance by those going to a tour beyond the first date). There are, however, ways to do it more cheaply. Even handing fans a sticker to put over their phone cameras on their way in can be effective and also avoids the dilemma of not being able to access your phone in the event of an emergency.
Nonetheless, phone ban or no phone ban, there’s always something to be gained simply by choosing not to remove your phone from your back at all. Try it and observe the difference. Enjoy music how it is best enjoyed, in the present moment, with no distractions.
Everywhere At Once shares its line-up
We recently mentioned the new nationwide festival of grassroots venues, Everywhere At Once, and the event has now shared its inaugural line-up.
There's some huge names taking part, such as Becky Hill, who's playing the Marrs Bar in her hometown of Worcester (which, funnily enough, is also where I was born and lived till I was 14).
Across one weekend in June, 26th to 28th, in over 400 venues, there will be 1,200 gigs with over 2000 acts performing, such as Rizzle Kicks, Tinie Tempah, The Lathums, The Divine Comedy, Master Peace, Jodie Harsh, Toddla T, Brooke Combe, VLURE, Royston Club, Miki Berenyi Trio, Tom A Smith, Vigilantes and more. Plus lots of local acts, obvs.
Alongside spotlighting the country's grassroots venues, the nationwide event will also be raising money for War Child, Nordoff and Robbins, Help Musicians UK, and Teenage Cancer Trust. Supported by The National Lottery, the festival is delivered by Music Venue Trust, Save Our Scene and the Association of Independent Promoters, reaffirming a shared commitment to grassroots music and the communities it serves.
Everywhere At Once fills the gap in the festival calendar left by Glastonbury's fallow year and tickets are on sale now: everywherefest.com
Music Venue Trust
Look at this magazine pop-up in Selfridges!
Here's some good news for fans of the print resurgence: Selfridges' Club Culture season is celebrating magazines and independent publishers. The six-week pop-up has got titles such as Huck, Little White Lies and Sight & Sound on display. As someone with two giant boxes of magazines dating back 10 years in my bedroom, I'm quite a fan.
TCO London
Is Israel on thin ice at Eurovision?
Israel's continued inclusion at Eurovision has put a dark cloud over the contest for several years now, particularly given the behaviour of their delegation in 2024 and, more recently, five countries dropping out over the EBU’s refusal to exclude them given what a UN Committee describes as a genocide in Palestine (which Israel denies). A boycott has also begun gathering pace, especially with the backing of No Music For Genocide campaign.
A New York Times investigation now claims that Israel carried out a state-backed influence campaign in Eurovision dating as far back as 2018. It also makes the claim that the Israeli government used the song contest as a way to “burnish the country’s flagging reputation and rally international support”, and had spent at least $1million (£730,000) on marketing for Eurovision.
Some of this funding reportedly came from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s "hasbara" office - a euphemism for overseas propaganda. It breaches a fundamental principle of Eurovision, that governments are not supposed to interfere with voting.
Israel’s national broadcaster Kan has also received a formal warning from Eurovision organisers after it encouraged viewers to “vote 10 times” in a promotional video featuring its contestant, Norman Bettan.
The accusations of Israel effectively attempting to artwash its reputation seem now to have an even more solid foundation. How much longer do they even have before there's a breaking point that goes even beyond the geopolitical backdrop of the controversy? Culture really is a battleground, and any attempts to de-politicise it are truly futile.
... but in more wholesome news...
In the same week as this year's Eurovision, three well-known recent alumni have teamed up for raise money for Music Without Borders. Käärijä from Finland (2023, Joost from the Netherlands (2024) and Tommy Cash from Estonia (2025) have formed a Eurovision boyband and released an EP, also titled Boyband. The revenue from its lead single 'I Miss Us' will be donated in full to help support children in Palestine and those affected by conflict around the world.
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